The Pact Shaming Needs to Stop

A short story about demons

Fellow demon-worshippers, we have a serious problem in our community. I know what you’re thinking: didn’t her boyfriend make this same exact post two weeks ago? The answer is no. My boyfriend was completely out of line. The things he said were totally unacceptable, and I’ve since broken up with him. I unequivocally support the right of any sorcerer to sacrifice their pets, livestock, family members, friends, strangers, and body parts as they choose, to whichever demon they choose. And that brings me to my point: the pact-shaming needs to stop.

No one should be judged for which demon they chose to make a pact with. Contracting with Baphomet or Mammon doesn’t make you “basic”, and you’re not cool just because you looked up some obscure demon mentioned once offhandedly in a lost book of the Bible or a William Blake poem. And no one should be shamed for the transformations they undergo or the abilities they manifest because of their pacts. I’ve seen people telling followers of Dagon they smell like fish. It’s one thing saying this to a Dagon boy–I’ve never met one that’s not racist, they’re all closet Lovecraft fans–but Dagon girls just wanted to be Ariel! Would you mock a follower of Asmodeus for their unearthly beauty and aura of sexual compulsion? No? Maybe you should spend some time thinking about why you think one of these behaviors is acceptable and the other isn’t.

Not everyone had a lot of choices when they made their pacts. I’ve never written about this publicly before, but I myself was pressured into my pact with Belphegor by my controlling ex. We started dating when I was still a minor, and he encouraged me to contract with Belphegor before I’d fully considered my options. At the time I was desperate for arcane power, because I was in an abusive situation at home which was seriously exacerbating my mental illness. My ex told me that Belphegor had the power to protect me. (And yes, I know Belphegor accepts dual contracts with a number of other entities, but collecting the profane materials is just not possible for me with the severe executive dysfunction I’ve developed from my pact.) It’s cruel to make a decent person feel bad for something they can’t control, and we aren’t cruel.

Society is what’s cruel, with its arbitrary moral strictures enforced via group shame. Society made us hate ourselves so it could control us. The Demiurge wants to turn us all into his little servants, giving up our own lives and ambitions to serve a fundamentally unjust civilization. We see through the veil of enforced morality. We reject their rules. And we reject their shame. We fight back by loving ourselves with true compassion, without limitations, without judgment.

When you call a follower of Mammon greedy, or a follower of Ashtarte barren, or a follower of Beelzebub fat, you’re speaking with the voice of the Demiurge. His greatest weapon against us is shame, and when we wield that weapon against each other we’re doing His work for Him. He wants to divide us, make us guilty of ourselves and hateful of others. We ought to respond with radical, unconditional love. If it makes you uncomfortable, sit with that feeling. Love it too. And let it pass. That’s how we’ll win.

And next time you want to say Belphegorites are lazy, consider holding your tongue, because you’ve obviously got some internalized demiurgic morality to work through.

From Jacques Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal, 1818. Illustration by Louis Le Breton, 1863.